New Year's Special
by nemaara
Summary: Happy New Year - another Raven/Jinx


Disclaimer: Teen Titans isn't mine

Unlike a lot of my other stories, this occurs before Jinx is a superhero and she's still steals stuff.

"Speech"

_Thoughts_

* * *

_An alarm... _

"Titan's! Trouble!" Robin ran into the common room, where Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg were busy eating breakfast.

They all looked up as Robin moved over to the computer, typing in a few commands. He brought up a map of the city and saw two blinking red dots in the city's waterfront. He looked back as he sensed someone approach behind him, but realizing that it was just Raven, who had apparently just woken up from her rather disheveled appearance, looked back to the screen.

"The Hive Five," Robin muttered. "No, just Jinx? Looks like it. She's already hit two places. The Yellowfin Ocarina Underwater Restaurant and Ethan's Lakeside Art of Technology Exhibition. Apparently she's headed down to that ocean art place next."

"Aww man! The tech exhibit? I was gonna go to that today. Why can't villains take the holidays off too?"

Raven looked over Robin's shoulder. She thought carefully for a moment. _Hmm... _

"Robin, what time is it?"

"11. Why?"

Raven paled slightly, but regained her composure quickly. "Why don't you guys let me handle this one? It's just Jinx, I can take care of her by myself."

Robin raised an eyebrow. "It would be safer if we did it as a team. And didn't you say you had to go out today or something?"

"Uh yeah. Come one, it's New Year's Eve. Take a break. I'm heading out to that area anyway, no need for the rest of you to come."

Robin folded his arms over his chest. "But-"

"Raven's got a point you know," Beast Boy said, leaning back in his chair. "Not feeling the fight today, ya know?"

"Yeah man, let's take it easy one day."

"Perhaps we can go on a date, Robin?"

"I mean if Rae wants to-"

"Guys!"

"It's fine Robin. See you guys tonight for dinner."

And with that, she disappeared. Robin sighed. "Whatever," he said, and began to cook his own breakfast.

* * *

Jinx tapped her foot impatiently, leaning against the wall of a restaurant as she waited looking for a certain someone. She pulled out her phone - 11:15 AM - and frowned, wondering what was keeping _her _for so long.

"Waiting for someone?" A tap on her shoulder.

She turned and glared. "You're 45 minutes late."

Raven shrugged. "I overslept."

"You always oversleep. Even I don't sleep in as late as you do. Okay fine, sometimes I do but-"

Raven laughed. "I'm supposed to be catching you you know. Something about you robbing an art exhibit and a fancy underwater restaurant. Shouldn't that thing be closed anyway? It's winter."

"Nah, they just turned up the heat. Here, I... uh... 'bought' you some stuff from the restaurant."

"Bought?" Raven raised an eyebrow.

Jinx blushed. "They were gifts okay? You know, the kind that people give you for free-"

"When you threaten them and pretend that you're going to kill them."

"I did nothing of the sort!"

"Whatever. What did you get?"

"They only gave me some bread. But it's good bread! Here, try some."

"But it's stolen - well, actually, it's not like they're going to take it back," Raven closed her eyes and sighed. "One day I'll manage to convince you to stop stealing things."

"When Hell freezes over. C'mon, let's walk on the beach. It's so pretty when it's frozen," Jinx tugged on Raven's hand.

"Wait. Can't go out looking like this. People will recognize me."

She muttered a few words and her hair changed from purple to black, lengthening slightly in the process. Her eyes darkened as well, and her skin turned slightly tanner, more human-like than her normal grey. And her clothes, not the usual cloak and leotard, but dark, nearly black jeans, a black shirt, a black jacket and a black scarf -

"What's with you and the color black anyway?"

"What's wrong with it?"

Jinx rolled her eyes. "You have no taste. Oh well, we'll have to change that eventually."

"As you said, 'when Hell freezes over'," Raven smirked slightly. "All set. Let's go."

* * *

It was quiet and peaceful along the lakeside; the New Year's festivities were mostly going on in heart of the city, far away, and of course, most of the people who had come out were there. But they both had already seen it several times, and once together, so there wasn't much point in watching it again. Instead, they opted for some alone time, where they weren't likely to be interrupted... or get caught.

Raven snorted. "Even if they do figure it out, it's not like they can keep you in jail. It only took you like what, a couple days to break out last time?"

"Yup. You know, you guys really need to get better prisons."

"And better priorities. Catching you guys doesn't do much. We should be going after Slade. He's the dangerous one."

"It's the holidays, take a break! Stop worrying about such things-"

"Tell that to Robin."

"Eh, he's kind of like a stick up the ass, you know? Always uptight."

"That was a terrible analogy-"

"I know."

Raven sighed and walked out onto the frozen surface of the water, sitting down. She looked up at the sky. "You know, sometimes I wonder what it would be like to be just a normal person. No more dealing with all of this stuff, risking our lives to save everyone else, seeing your friends get hurt..."

"Yeah, not having the police on your tail 24/7," Jinx sat next to her.

"That's your fault. You can't blame me for that," Raven turned to the pinkette, smirking. "But you can blame Robin for that."

"He takes his job seriously! Too seriously. Unlike you. I mean, you're like practically fraternizing with the enemy-"

"Oh please. We are 100 percent not enemies, Jinx."

"But I'm the big bad guy, you know, the one that goes around scarin' people to death."

"You're not very scary. And I think we both know, you wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Actually I would. Hate them damn flies. They make you so itchy-"

"You know what I mean."

Jinx laughed. " 'Course I do, hun. Dats why you love me."

They walked a little while longer until the sun was directly overhead, passing into the west.

"I'm hungry. Lunch?"

"Sure."

* * *

They returned, quite ironically, to the very same underwater restaurant that Jinx had gotten some 'gifts' from. There was a glass tunnel built from the shore to the restaurant, which lay on the sea bed, not too far offshore, so the water during the summer would be sparkling clear and fish could be seen swimming around. Even today, in the middle of winter, some things could be seen swimming around, fish, jellyfish, and the like beneath the frozen surface.

They approached the restaurant and the waiter at the door gestured for them to enter, smiling at Jinx as she passed by. Raven raised an eyebrow.

"He's the guy who got me my, uh, gifts."

Raven's eyebrow remained raised.

"Okay fine. I actually bought you some snacks. You know, using money, that stuff that normal people have-"

"Jinx-"

"Yeah yeah yeah, I know, I know, so out of character-"

"You shouldn't have..."

"I'm not poor, Rae. I've got plenty of money. I just choose not to spend it-"

"I'm proud of you," Raven smirked. "Finally changing your ways-"

"Don't bet on it. It's just for today."

Raven shook her head, smiling. "This place must be expensive."

"Not too bad, actually."

They found a table and sat down, looking around. A waiter brought them two menus and then whispered something in Jinx's ear before leaving.

"What'd he say?"

"Apparently we have a couple of friends here too. Wonder who they might be..."

"Maybe them," Raven pointed behind her to Cyborg and Beast Boy, who also seemed to be looking around.

Jinx paled. "I swear, I didn't do anything wrong! I just wanted to have fun today!"

"Shh, keep it down! They'll hear you."

"Oops," Jinx whispered as the two Titans noticed her and began waving.

Raven rolled her eyes. "I hope they don't recognize me. Maybe I should go-"

"No, you're staying here with me. I'm not facing them alone..."

"Relax, they don't look like they want to fight."

"Yo! Jinx!" Cyborg put an arm around her, squeezing.

"Cy, air, gotta... breathe-"

Beast Boy looked carefully at Raven, who stared back at him, with her very noticeably... ordinary brown eyes. They kept looking at each other, a frown on his face, hers completely impassive.

"You look familiar," he said, moving closer.

She held up a finger and pushed him back. "Do I?"

"Yeah. Can't put my finger on it. But you remind me of someone... Hey Cy!"

Cyborg looked up, one hand still on top of Jinx's head. She moved it off.

"Doesn't she look familiar?"

Cyborg looked at her carefully. "Hmm. Yeah, almost like... hey Jinx, who is she anyway?"

"Her?" She turned away for a moment, tapping her index fingers together.

_Rae. Help._

Raven rolled her eyes. "A classmate."

"... a classmate. What's your name?"

"I, uh, Umbra."

Cyborg looked at her suspiciously. "And what are your powers?"

Raven smirked. "Now I can't tell you that, can I? In case you ever come chasing me and I need to get away..."

He stared at her another moment, then held his hand out. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Cyborg."

They shook hands and he turned back to Jinx slowly... his head snapped back toward her, as if that would somehow break her disguise, but it only earned him a strange look from the dark Titan.

"Well, love to chat, but looks like the food's coming. Enjoy your meal with your... friend."

"Um, I will, thanks?"

She waved at them as they returned to their seats and made eye contact with Raven.

"Think they know?"

Raven glanced over. "Maybe."

"Will it be a problem?"

Raven shrugged. "If only Cyborg knows, it won't be. He knows you well enough. And besides, you work solo now, right?"

"Yeah. They don't know that though."

"Whatever. I'll deal with it later. Can't let something like that ruin our... date," the word came out with difficulty as if she was unable to say anything that was suggestive of their... relationship. As friends, of course.

"Of course not," Jinx smiled. She knew well enough that Raven sometimes felt uncomfortable expressing concern, or love, or any sort of emotion.

_But it makes her kinda cute. _

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Oh, nothing I was just thinking."

Raven rolled her eyes, but said nothing, merely enjoying the company of her friend as they ate.

* * *

They said goodbye to Cyborg and Beast Boy, Jinx receiving a hug from each of them and return and Raven - Umbra - abstaining, content with a smile and a nod. Her rather distant behavior seemed somewhat suspicious to Cyborg at least, but Beast Boy, who was sort of scared of unknown, seemingly powerful supervillains - well, he thought she was anyway - was perfectly fine with no close contact.

They walked back up to the shore, then wandered around the city for a little while, just walking, not even talking, just looking around.

It was rather peaceful, as it often was in Jump City when there weren't people like Cinderblock messing everything up. Unlike Gotham, the crime rate due to people was very low and generally the city was very clean, safe for people to walk around in. Today, maybe because it was fairly cold and because they avoided the square, where everyone was gathered to see the ball drop, there weren't too many people around, and those that were didn't really look too closely at Jinx, or if they did, they didn't care because Jinx wasn't exactly the most threatening of super villains.

There were still Christmas lights everywhere and tons of random little trinkets on the streets, in windows, statuettes of deer, birds, elves and such, flowers sculpted of ice... they stopped in front of a particularly impressive ice figure, one of the Titans themselves...

"Why am I so short?" Raven poked the statue of herself.

Jinx stood beside her, maybe an inch or two taller. "I don't know, you _are _pretty short..."

"5' 5", thanks. Average height for a woman. Actually slightly above average."

"Superheroes are supposed to be taller than average people, aren't they? So you're officially short."

Raven sighed. "I hate you."

Jinx laughed. "It's not my fault. But you know, it's kind of funny. When we used to fight back in the day, you always seemed so big. And now that you're like this you're so little. It's kinda cute."

Raven blushed. "I am not little-"

"Compared to everyone else you are. Even green bean's taller than you now. He's just a long green bean."

"Gross. That was an awful way of putting it."

A chuckle. "Oh well. Hey, wanna go walk in the forest? We might get to see some animals or somethin'."

"Sure."

* * *

They had a nice view of the Tower when they reached the top of the hill that led into the forested area near Jump City. Raven bade Jinx to sit down and they lay there in the snow, looking at the city below them. The air was really fresh, clean, unlike the city air that would always be a little polluted no matter how clean the city was.

A doe and her fawns came by. One of the little ones nudged Raven's side with its nose and she clenched a bit, trying not to laugh. She let it nuzzle with her hand instead and sat up, making sure that the other ones would not poke her.

"Ticklish?" Jinx snickered.

"Shut up." A blush.

"They seem to like you."

Raven shrugged. "I'm not an animal person. But for some reason they always seem to be attracted to me."

Jinx smiled as one of them approached her too.

"I guess that's a good thing. Means they sense that you're not evil."

"Same to you."

"I thought I was a villain."

"Not much of one. You even bought me lunch today."

Jinx sighed. "I don't know. Everyone always looks at me like I'm a terrible person or something, even before I got into this whole stealing stuff business. 'Cause of my powers, you know."

"Ditto."

A smile. "Of course you'd know. That's why you're awesome."

"Thanks."

They got up when the deer left and walked further into the forest. Jinx lagged a little bit behind Raven, taking more time to look at all of the life around her, breathing in the forest air. She looked down at the snow, then thought of a great idea.

"Hey Rae, catch!" She hurled a snowball at the demoness, but in mid flight, it was encased with dark energy and flew right back at her.

"Snowball fight?" Rae turned, eyes glinting with excitement. "Alright, you're on."

Jinx gulped as Raven raised an enormous mass of snow above her head and began rocketing snowballs out like bullets from a machine gun, smashing into trees, the ground, everywhere... Jinx blasted the ones flying at her apart with her pink hexes and tried to throw some back at Raven, but without even having to move, the demoness easily blocked them with her own snow or a black shield when necessary.

"That's not fair!" Jinx huffed. "You don't even have to move!"

"I'm getting a great mental workout here," Raven replied calmly. "Besides, you're the one who challenged me."

"But-" Splat.

"Right in the face," Raven snickered.

Jinx wiped the snow off of her face, glaring, then threw a snowball laced with a pink hex at Raven. She blocked it - and at that moment, the snow on all of the trees above her fell, covering Raven in a pile of white.

"Must suck to have bad luck, right?" Jinx smirked.

Raven shook off the snow, revealing that she had covered herself with her powers beforehand so none had actually hit her. "Nice try. Almost got me."

Jinx sniffed. "Stupid demon magic. Oh well."

She moved over to Raven and they continued walking...

Raven's eyes widened and she yelped as Jinx stuffed a snowball down her shirt.

"Gotcha!" The pinkette laughed.

It was the dark Titan's turn to glare, but she decided to have her friend have the victory... _this time... _and shook out the snow clung to her back.

"Great," she muttered. "Now it's freezing."

Jinx shrugged. "About time to head back anyway. Sun's going down soon."

"What's wrong with walking in the dark?"

"Oh, well if you want to. I wouldn't mind spending a little more time with you."

"Just... no more snow."

A chuckle. "Alright, fine."

* * *

It was completely dark by the time they returned, but both of them were in good spirits after being in each others' company for so long. After all, it was a rare occasion that they got to see each other between Raven's obligations as a superhero, and Jinx's 'solo work', though surprisingly she had been doing less of it lately, from what the Titans had seen.

As they got back, they were greeted by the sight of the city filled with light. Walking around, they paused occasionally to look at the ice sculptures around the city sparkling in the night light, or in the distance, the glowing ball that would drop, marking the new year. The excited shouts of people could be heard, but neither of them really wanted to go there, where it was noisy and crowded; they had both been there before and once was enough, they supposed.

Surprisingly some of the cafes in the city were still open and at a glance from Jinx, Raven picked one and walked in, the warm air inside the shop soothing against her cold skin.

They sat down.

"How long did you tell them you'd be out today anyway?"

"I was sort of vague. But I probably should be heading back after we eat. Just a quick snack, or some coffee - Cy's apparently made us a really fancy dinner."

"Ooh, can I join?"

Raven laughed. "Sure, though I can't guarantee your safety with bird boy around."

Jinx chuckled. "Oh well. Maybe if you can get away for a moment, visit me? It gets lonely without you around and it's New Year's Eve."

A smile. "I'll try."

They had some coffee, left an especially good tip for those people who had still decided to work on New Year's Eve, and left the shop. They stared at each other for a moment, then Jinx hugged Raven briefly, rather awkwardly - it was always like that since Raven was a little weird about such things - and then parted ways.

* * *

_Later... _

"Miss me?"

Jinx nearly jumped at the sound of that voice. "Rae!"

The demoness's face was stoic, as usual, as she stepped into the light, but her eyes were smiling. "I had a couple minutes. Can't stay to watch the ball drop with you though, or they'll get suspicious. But I'll be back after."

The pinkette grinned. "You're great, you know that?"

"I know," Raven couldn't help but smile a little. "See you soon."

* * *

A/N: Too lazy to write the rest, you can decide what they do for the rest of the night.

Happy New Year. Come up with any resolutions yet?


End file.
